The controversial winner of the 1960 Cannes Jury Prize returns in a stunning new 35mm print — and the existential riddles of modern existence never looked better. In the indifferent world of L’Avventura, when a woman goes missing, Michelangleo Antonioni (director of Blow Up, Zabriskie Point, The Passenger and La Notte) dares to ponder: “So what?” A highly intellectualized meditation on impermanence, and the film that catapulted Antonioni and lover/star Monica Vitti to international arthouse superstardom, L’Avventura rewrote film grammar and shattered accepted conventions of plot and character with its deft depiction of ennui among the idle rich. Gasp as cinematographer Aldo Scavarda takes you to film school in under three hours. Swoon for the early feminist bombshells of Italia. Thrill as they look for meaning across breathtaking island vistas and cavernous, lavishly adorned mansions. Wonder what the hell it all means, joining a cinephile tradition of over half a century! A richly rewarding rite of movie passage, L’Avventura has lost none of its power to challenge and inspire.
Dir. Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960, 35mm, 143 min.